Years Don't Mean Anything
by Russell Scottie
Summary: Gilbert has just moved to a new town and a new school. There he meets an old friend he thought he'd never see again. But Gilbert is plagued by memories of a boy from his past. Will he find him after so much time has past? Will he be able to keep the promise he made to the boy?


**Heh, I had this partly written chapter in a notebook from a long time ago, like over a year ago. I found it and decided to finish the chapter and hopefully finish the story. By the way, this is my first Hetalia fanfiction.**

**Title is a twist off of the song name Miles Don't Mean Anything by Eye Alaska.**

**Summary: Gilbert has just moved to a new town, a new school. There he meets an old friend he thought he'd never see again. But Gilbert is plagued by memories of a boy from his past. Will he find him after so much time has past? Will he be able to keep his promise he made to the boy?**

**Warnings: slash, m/m, language, etc.**

**Characters info/who's who in each chapter:**

**Prussia: Gilbert Beilschmidt – 19 Junior**

**England: Arthur Kirkland – 18 Junior**

**Years Don't Mean Anything**

"No! You can't take West!" a boy about the age of six cried out as he struggled against the large hands trying to hold him back. In front of them, a young couple was taking a rather reluctant four year old through the orphanage doors with them.

"Gilbert! Calm down," the man holding the six year old shouted, trying to get the boy in his arms to hear reason. "You knew this would happen sooner or later," he told the struggling boy.

"West! I'll come for you! I promise!" the boy, Gilbert, shouted to the younger boy.

The younger boy nodded and let out a single word, "brűder," before the doors closed, cutting him off from the older boy.

"Gilbert, you know you shouldn't have gotten so attached," the man told him with a sigh as he released the boy.

"West's special, we were brűders," Gilbert murmured, trying to keep his tears at bay.

The man sighed again, rubbing the bridge of his nose. "You weren't brothers, you know that and even if you two were, it's unlikely you both would end up going to the same home," he tried explaining.

The boy's eyes flashed with determination. "It doesn't matter. I promised West; I will find him, even if it means I have to search forever. We'll be together again and be brothers."

BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!

Groaning, a pale hand slammed down a small chick shaped alarm clock. A head of white hair lifted itself to stare at the clock with pale red eyes.

"So not awesome," the teen grumbled as he got up. He'd been having that dream for years now. He knew it was a memory, but for the life of him he couldn't remember the kid, West's real name.

Glaring sluggishly at a calendar at the wall, the albino saw it was a Friday. Not any old Friday, it was the day he started a new school in this new town. This wasn't the first time he changed schools and towns and mostly likely wasn't going to be the last time.

"Not awesome," the teen murmured, still confused over why he was to start his new school on a Friday.

Pushing the unawesome thoughts out of his head, he proceeded to get ready for the school day. When he finished, the teen headed down to the kitchen of the new house.

Waiting for him at the table was breakfast along with the albino's guardian, an older man with white-gray hair and pale eyes.

"Gilbert," the gray haired man said in greeting as he looked up from the morning's newspaper.

"Morning, Fritz!" Gilbert brightly greeted as he sat down and dug into his food.

The man, Fritz as Gilbert liked to call him, had adopted him from the orphanage, the one that he and that boy West lived at, when Gilbert was thirteen. At first Gilbert didn't like the older man, thinking he was more than capable to take of himself. This way of thinking lead to the preteen into running away and living on the streets for over four months before Fritz found him and managed to convince him to come home. After that, the albino boy began to warm up to the man and eventually came to think of Fritz as a father figure.

"I'll drop you off at school, but I won't be able to pick you up unless something changes at work," Fritz told him.

Gilbert nodded and finished up eating. Grabbing a jacket and his school bag, the albino followed his guardian out the door and to the car. They made small talk throughout the car ride and soon Fritz pulled to a stop outside the school. Gilbert reached for the door handle to open the door when a hand on his arm caught his attention. He looked up and met pale eyes.

"Try to make this work this time, Gilbert," Fritz told him, slowly pulling his hand off his adoptive son's shoulder.

Gilbert had to look away from those pale eyes that seem to stare into his soul. He knew what Fritz was talking about. He'd been kicked out of so many schools that it would seem that he wasn't even trying to make it work anymore. The albino knew the older man must be tried of changing jobs, of moving, of having to get a notice from the school that his son had been expelled. Gilbert looked back up and smiled at Fritz. "Don't worry, I'll do my best," he told him and began to climb out of the car.

Before he shut the door, he heard Fritz speak again. "Gilbert, really try this time." The albino just smiled and nodded before he shut the car door and heading toward the large school building, his smiling slipping from his pale face as he walked. He did try, but no matter how hard he tried, nothing worked out.

Gilbert went to the main office and picked up his schedule and a school map, ignoring all the looks he was getting from students. Being a new student entering school in the middle of the year was one thing, but being a new student entering school in the middle of the year while being albino was a whole other thing. He had gotten used to the stares he received from others a long time ago.

Looking down at the map and back at the halls, Gilbert realized quickly that the map was way out of date. Not awesome. There were halls and classrooms that weren't on the map and halls on the map that now lead to dead ends or halls that didn't lead to the hall he wanted to go to. He was getting frustrated, but he wouldn't ask for directions, he was stubborn that way. Plus it was a little hard to ask for directions from other students when the bell for homeroom rang a couple minutes ago and everyone was now in their class.

He sighed with relief when he finally found his homeroom, room 90. He opened it and poked his head in a bit hesitant before stepping fully in and closed the door behind him. At the sound of the door opening and closing, he quickly became the center of attention as all eyes turned to see who walked in late. He turned and saw the homeroom teacher, a tall brunette with dark eyes who was staring at him too.

Gilbert swallowed. Was he going to get into trouble on his first day? This was not how he hoped to start his first day. But to his great surprise, the man smiled at him as he walked over to him.

"I was told I would be getting a new student today," he said as he stopped in front of the albino, his dark eyes warm. "You must be Mr. Beilschmidt, am I correct?"

Gilbert nodded a bit numbly. Why wasn't he being yelled at for being late?

The homeroom teacher's smile widen, showing off pearly white teeth. "Good. My name is Mr. Hale and I'll be your homeroom teacher for the rest of the year," he spoke in a friendly voice. He looked down at the papers Gilbert was carrying and noticed the map. "They're still haven't updated the maps? No wonder you were late!" His dark eyes turned to scan the room of whispering students. "Why don't you have a seat? There's one near the back that's open."

Nodding, Gilbert turned to scan the seats for the empty one in the back. He quickly found it, but the student sitting next to it caught his attention. "Arthur!" he gasped. Even though it had been two years since he last saw the other boy, the blond hair, bright emerald green eyes, and bushy eyebrows were unmistakable.

The other boy's normally pale face was paler, almost completely white, with shock. "G-Gil-Gilbert?" the slightly accented voice squeaked out.

Gilbert grinned, it was his friend alright. Even if said friend looked very different than he did two years ago. It was still awesome; he now had someone he knew in a school filled with strangers.

"You know Mr. Kirkland, Mr. Beilschmidt?" Mr. Hale asked as he watched the two boys, his eyebrow lifted in slight amusement. At the boy's nod, he beamed, "Will you be so kind to show our new student around then, Mr. Kirkland?"

Arthur broke eye contact with Gilbert to look up at the homeroom teacher. Stiffly, he nodded, "Of course, sir."

Gilbert made his way over to the empty seat next to Arthur, plopping down in it and turned his full attention on his old friend. His grin faltered slightly as saw Arthur fully. The blond boy was dressed in a pair of dress pants, a button down shirt, a tie, and a sweater vest. This was not at all like the punk boy he had been friends with two years ago. Hell, why was Arthur even wearing a sweater vest? The blond had told Gilbert how much he hated the things! Could two years really change a person?

"You've changed," Gilbert whispered to the blond next to him.

Arthur didn't turn to him; he appeared to be paying attention to Mr. Hale as the teacher continued roll call, which the man had been doing before Gilbert entered the classroom. He did respond though, "People change, Gilbert. You can't expect everyone to stay the same."

"People don't change _this_ much in two years," Gilbert told him, his eyes narrowing slightly as he watched the blond. What the hell happened to his friend to make him change this much?

"They can and they do," Arthur told him, turning to look at the albino. His emerald eyes soften slightly at the look at his face. "I'll explain later, okay?"

Gilbert nodded and tried to turn his full attention on Mr. Hale, but his eyes and mind kept darting back to Arthur. Just what happened to his friend?

It felt like forever before the bell rang, signally the end of homeroom. All the students got up, gathered their things and began filing out the door. Gilbert got up and turned to find Arthur already up and in front of him, with his hand out. "Let me see your schedule," he said.

It took Gilbert a moment to realize that Arthur wasn't asking as a friend to see if they had any other classes together, but as a student forced to show the new student around. He handed over his schedule while wondering if Arthur still considered him as his friend. He hoped so.

Arthur let out a loud breath of air through his nose, which sounded suspiciously like a sigh. "I have all the same classes, but I suppose it'll be easier to show you all your classes this way," he murmured, handing back the schedule and began toward the door at a fast pace.

Gilbert had to rush to catch up with him. "Are you going to tell me?" he asked as they walked through the hall, Arthur keeping the pace fast.

"Not now, I'll tell you during PE," Arthur told him as they turned down a hall.

The albino looked down at his schedule and saw PE was a few classes away, right before lunch actually. He wondered if he could make it to PE before demanding Arthur to tell him.

Gilbert had a hard time paying attention in the next couple of classes, his mind kept wondering what Arthur's explanation would be. He briefly wondered if he even wanted to know, but he shook that thought away. Of course he wanted to know! Arthur was his friend and he was worried about his friend's major change.

Gilbert and Arthur sat in a shady spot of grass on the school's sports field. It was PE and the two were excused from playing the day's sport. The albino's doctor had long ago forbidden him from doing many things due to his condition, PE was one of them. Arthur too had a doctor's excuse to sit out during PE; he had a spinal injury that he got two years ago. Though his spine had healed, the doctors didn't want him to do anything too physical as they worried his spine may not be strong enough for it as it didn't heal completely right.

Gilbert stared at Arthur in silence as the blond watched their class play soccer, the blond wishing he could be out playing with his fellow students playing his favorite sport. The albino's red eyes darkened in guilt. It was his fault that Arthur had gotten hurt two years ago, if he hadn't – No! He told himself he wouldn't think about the accident. But it couldn't hurt to apologize again, right?

"I'm sorry," he said in a quiet voice, just above a whisper. "If it wasn't for me, you would be out there with them."

Emerald eyes whipped around to face him. "No, don't say that, Gilbert. It wasn't your fault, you know that," he told the slightly older boy softly.

"It is," he murmured. Great; he was thinking about it again! "If I hadn't insisted we go, you wouldn't have gotten hurt!"

"I agreed to go, so it's my own fault too," Arthur told him, his eyes trailing to look at the grass between them. "Can we not talk about this? I thought you wanted to know why I had changed."

Gilbert slowly nodded. If they didn't talk about it, he should surely stop thinking about it. "Sure, what happened?" he asked.

Arthur looked back up and began to explain, "Ever since the accident, I thought I should change. That way of living would just hurt me again if I continued, so I started to change myself after we parted ways. Mother transferred me to this school and I started anew here. I've… actually became Student Council President this year." He looked away again, not wanting to see his old friend's reaction as he admitted the last part.

Gilbert burst out laughing, laughing his unique 'kesesese' laugh. "You Student Council President?" He laughed some more, but stopped when he noticed Arthur's face had a serious expression. "Are you serious? This isn't some joke?" he asked, his red eyes wide with shock.

The blond pulled a face. "Why would I joke about being Student Council President?" he asked.

The albino shifted uncomfortably. "I just never saw you going for Student Council, let alone Student Council President," he said and let his eyes flicker to the group of students that were their classmates running after a soccer ball.

Arthur let out a loud breath of air through his nose that was almost a sigh. "I told you I've changed," he muttered.

Gilbert nodded and the two fell into silence. It was almost the end of PE when Arthur spoke up, "So where are you living now?" When the albino told him his address, his green eyes widen. "But that's the house across from mine!" A thoughtful look crossed the blond's face before he added, "I thought that man looked familiar, thought he had too much gray to be Mr. Beilschmidt though."

Gilbert let out a laugh. "Yeah, Fritz has gotten so much gray since we last saw each other."

Arthur sent his old friend a look. "That's probably because of you."

The albino let out another string of 'kesesese' before asking, "Hey, you want to come over after school?"

Arthur looked thoughtful before answering, "I don't have a Student Council meeting today; so sure I'll come over."

Gilbert grinned. Arthur still wanted to hang out with him, which must mean Arthur still saw him as a friend. Awesome! The two began catching each other up on what they'd been doing over the last two years. They continued talking into lunch, only absently chewing and eating the bad cafeteria food. Arthur stopped their conversation when the bell that signaled the end of lunch rang, refusing to continue it during the rest of their classes, no matter how many times Gilbert tried.

After the last class let out, Gilbert followed Arthur out of the school. He had been expecting they would walk home since it wasn't that far and he sure wasn't expecting a car ride from Arthur. Single mother Mrs. Kirkland had four boys, including Arthur the youngest, and couldn't afford to give her youngest a car even though he had past his driver's test. Gilbert hadn't even considered another mode of transportation so he was shocked when they stopped at a bike rack and he saw an old familiar bike.

"You still have that old thing?" the albino asked as he eyed the old, but still working bike. He remembered always riding it with Arthur two years ago. There was a luggage rack above the back wheel, which made a perfect seat for Gilbert. It was still there too.

Arthur didn't look up from putting the combination into the bike lock. "If it's not broke, why get rid of it?" he countered.

"Heh, I thought for sure you would have gotten rid of it," Gilbert said.

Arthur shrugged and pulled his bike free. He got on it and gestured for his friend to get on too. Gilbert grinned and hopped onto his seat, he had missed riding this bike with Arthur. The blond easily began peddling away from school, the wind in his hair and the albino's laughter behind him. A small smile appeared on Arthur's face; he had missed this too.

The two quickly arrived at Gilbert's new home. Arthur parked the bike in the drive way and followed Gilbert into the house. The two boys ended up on the couch, talking, laughing, and reminiscing the days they had spent together two years ago. They didn't realize how late it had gotten until Fritz came through the front door.

"I'm back, Gilbert. Sorry it took me so long, work held me," the older man called out as he closed the front door behind him. "Who's bike is that? Is it a friend's?" he asked as he walked into the living room, spotting his adoptive son and Arthur on the couch. "Arthur Kirkland! What has it been, two years? I thought we'd never see you again."

Arthur grinned up at the gray haired man. "Hello, Mr. Beilschmidt. It's nice to see you again too," he said politely.

"Since you're already here, why don't you stay for dinner?" Fritz asked, a smile on his face as he headed to the kitchen.

"Sure! Let me tell my mother I'm staying for dinner," Arthur called after the man. He pulled out his phone and started to text his mother.

Gilbert grinned widely. Even after changing so much, Arthur was still the Arthur Gilbert knew, never letting an opportunity for a real home cooked meal slip by him. The Kirklands were all terrible cooks and so they kept to mainly getting take-out or making something simple like a sandwich or soup, but even those simple things they could still mess up and ruin.

"Kesesese. What are we having tonight?" he called to Fritz after Arthur finished his text, leaping up off the couch and wandering into the kitchen, his friend not far behind him.

**While this chapter is long, don't expect every chapter, when I get around to them, after this to be long too.**

**Yes, I bet you all know who the boy, West, is. If you don't, shame on you!**

**The room number, 90, has to do with a historical date; it doesn't mean there are 90 rooms in the school. Can you guess the historical date? It should be real easy.**

**To clear things up with their ages and stuff; Gilbert was held back a grade after he ran away from Fritz's. He and Arthur were had to repeat a grade after the 'accident' two years ago as they were unable to finish the school year.**

**More about the 'accident' will be revealed later in the story. I'm sure you are all curious. As for Arthur's spinal injury, I don't know much about injuries and the spine; I can only assume if the spine doesn't heal right, the doctors wouldn't want you doing physical taxing things like PE. I also don't know much about albinism.**

**Anyway, hope you enjoyed!**


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